


Redd “Rabbit Claw” Moonshine: The Beginning

by LadyCynthiana



Category: Rhett & Link, Rhett - Fandom
Genre: Childhood, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Rabbit Lightning - Freeform, Teenagers, rhink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 10:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4260264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyCynthiana/pseuds/LadyCynthiana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my tale of the conception of the polygamous-love-song-writing half of the wonderful duo, Rabbit Lightning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Redd “Rabbit Claw” Moonshine: The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> There is a scene that may be interpreted as involving an abusive father of a child (not the main characters). It is a mild/brief reference, but just to be on the safe side... The rest of the fic is very "safe" in all regards.

Redd was a person who never fell out of love. From a young age, he became obsessed with people that he admired, whether it was for their beauty, or for something more intangible like the thoughts locked in their mind, or the things that made them different from everyone else.

His first love was named Holly Peters. She had soft copper curls and a lilting laugh, but took no guff from anyone. She was taller than he was, as he was 7 and she was 11, and she played every ball game better than he could. He dreamed of flying to her house every night for years. She never thought of him as more than a little brother. He cried many tears over her on the shoulders of his blue-eyed friend named Lohn.

His second love was named Jamil Isra. He was tall as well, but also dark of skin and eyes, and could run faster than any other boy on the playground. He wasn’t allowed to be friends with Jamil, so he watched him run from a distance, and dreamed of running through desert sands with him. In the dreams, he never beat him, but on occasion would catch up to him for a brief moment and they would lock eyes as they did on the playground.

His third love was named Benny Stevenson. He was shorter, with elegant blonde hair that cascaded in curtains along the sides of his face, framing his pale-lashed eyes. He knew things about the woods that you couldn’t learn in any encyclopedia, and dragged Redd on long adventures, building houses in the trees where they would sit and hold hands while talking for hours. Then one day Benny showed up with a black eye, and told him his father said boys can’t love other boys. They no longer went into the woods alone, but he still dreamed of the way the light filtered through the trees onto their clasped fingers.

His fourth love was named Lisa Andrews. Her light brown hair bounced across her shoulders every time she turned in her desk to answer his questions. He built up the courage to touch her soft bare leg with his knee and after much scheming, made her his first girlfriend. A month later, she left him for a boy she could go swimming with in the summer. Later that year at a dance, he kissed her friend Amanda Johnson in front of the two of them. He didn’t love Amanda, but the kissing made him feel better, especially when he looked around at the other boys at the dance kissing girls. One familiar pair of blue eyes winked back at him when they met his.

In the next few years his obsession with girls reached a fever pitch. Soon he had so many names and faces in his dreams that he started to write them down in a notebook. He wrote poetry that he would never show any of them, because he decided he would date them all casually to avoid the jealousy and heartbreak that would come with a deeper connection. He found that he could have a lot of fun with a girl without ever committing to anything long-term, and it didn’t hurt that his many conquests drew him admiration from the boys as well. Over time, his poetry began to sound like love songs, influenced by his favorite country singers and their deep, soulful voices as they sang of all the loves they could never have.

The only person he ever showed these songs to was his closest friend, Lohn. Lohn had been there during his first obsession with Holly, through all the pains of early heartbreak. Redd never told how he watched Jamil or held hands with Benny, though. All the boys were told and believed they were supposed to love girls instead. Knowing things would never go any farther between them, Redd refused to even consider he might feel even deeper things for Lohn, who stood by his side through everything. He actively ignored the blue glitter of his eyes and the silken dark hair and the way his laughter made Redd’s heart skip a beat. They both shared a passion for music, though, and each took it upon themselves to learn an instrument so they could form a band together.

Lohn was very mysterious about who he loved. Every now and then he would admit to liking a girl, but he liked to tease Redd about how many girls he liked. Redd talked him into trying out all the girls who were interested in him, so try them out Lohn did. None of them seemed to stick with him, but with Redd, every person he ever cared for stuck in his dreaming mind, adding a new layer to how he expressed his love in song.

As their school years were coming to a close, the two boys sat one evening in Redd’s truck, after a long drive spent singing along to country music on the radio. Lohn had been learning to sing harmony to Redd’s voice and they ended out of breath on a duet of Endless Love. Redd had pulled the truck up the side of a hill where they could see the ruddy clouds of sunset fade into the deep indigo of night.

“We’ve got to get famous to make money singing, Redd. How are we gonna do that if no one’s ever heard of us outside of a middle of nowhere town in South Carolina?” Lohn leaned his tawny face against the cool glass of the truck window, his breath misting from his soft lips over the star-spattered image of the sky.

“I dunno Lohn, I thought you were the brains of this operation. I just write all the songs and play the guitar and …” he stopped, seeing the creases gather on Lohn’s dark hair-covered brow and shifted his tone from jokingly annoyed to genuinely concerned. “You’re doing really well with the harmonies though. People always compliment your voice. And your harmonica’s getting better. I’m sure if we keep at it we can start getting gigs at bars in the surrounding towns, as soon as we’re out of high school. Then eventually we’ll make our way out of the state, I promise.”

“Eventually just isn’t good enough, Redd. I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life just to get out of here and finally DO something. There’s nothing here for me.” Lohn sighed, a truly heart-wrenching sound to Redd, because Redd was one of the only people who knew how much Lohn was really struggling. This wasn’t the angst of the average teenager. Lohn was hungry. His bones protruded through his worn t-shirt. His stomach growled on a daily basis. Redd shared his lunch with him but knew the boy got no more than a bowl of cereal and a bowl of soup at home.

He was also hungry for other things that were less tangible, like admiration and fame. Redd noticed every time they had eyes of a crowd on them, Lohn’s demeanor blossomed into something entirely different than a frustrated, grimacing little boy. His face would glow, from his brilliant white teeth, to the pink of blood rushing to his cheeks, to the light sparking off his eyes. His body became kinetic with the energy from the music and any applause or laughter from the crowd made him glow and sparkle hotter and brighter. He became a star.

“You’ve got me, don’t you?” Redd asked, timidly, only vaguely upset that Lohn had dismissed him in his account of the things this place held for him. Lohn may be hungry, but he would never be lonely, so long as Redd could help it, he decided.

Lohn looked up, his hooded eyes just catching the smallest glint of moonlight to shimmer with the same deep indigo of the sky. He seemed to be deep in thought as he asked Redd, “What if I wanted to run away? Would you come with me? We could go to Nashville, or Texas, or–” he waved his hand around indicating the different places he continued naming, as though they were spread before him below the hill, but there were only tobacco fields and copses of shaggy live oak trees interspersed with run-down farmhouses.

“Stop,” Redd caught his roaming hand in his much larger, warmer one. “You mean run away right now? I mean, if it wasn’t such an obviously terrible idea to go without any planning, then yes, of course I’d go with you.” Redd raised his left eyebrow at Lohn, wondering just how desperate his friend was feeling at this moment.

Lohn’s hand was warming in Redd’s, and the crease in his brow was softening, but his breathing was quickening. Redd quickly let go, muttering an apology and turning away, waiting for his friend’s answer.

“Sometimes I wish we could, but I think I can wait until school’s out, at least… that is… if you…” Lohn’s voice had dropped to an almost imperceptible volume.

“If I what?” Redd asked, turning back to look at his friend, who looked on the verge of tears. Lohn coughed, trying to maintain his cool and collected attitude that he had been attempting to develop over the past few years. Redd could see right through it, but he made no mention. Redd put his hand back out between them, an open invitation, but was careful not to reach. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and then Lohn reached down to grasp it firmly, as if it would hold him above water.

“Stay with me. Just promise you won’t leave me for anyone else. I need you right now,” Lohn’s voice once again wavered at the end of his once firm sentence.

“Of course. I promise,” Redd replied, returning the pressure on his hand. He knew at that moment, that no matter how many people he loved, he would keep that promise to Lohn first and foremost. As long as Lohn needed him, all the names and faces in his dreams could wait in line, because the most precious one was right here in front of him.


End file.
